DogPaddle

That's weird. I wonder if someone did something to end the dog racing?

I can't believe that. I know we couldn't stop the BSL here but damn at least the dogs were allowed to stay in their homes. What the hell is wrong with a speuter order and a ban on bringing anymore pits into Denver. That is just shit. [quote]"I've been called everything in the book," she said as she got in the van and drove away. "I just try and tell them I'm just doing my job."[/quote] I am quite familiar with desperately needing to keep your job but that is one task I would be seriously tempted to refuse even if it put my job in peril.

[quote]She said the breed is typically very gentle with humans, but breeding and experiences the dog had when young can be a very important factor. Yeah I don't care for this remark either, she sounds like a breeder who is saying what needs to be said about a breed just to divert any malignant media attention[/quote] Her statement is quite true. Malamutes are derived from a very old working breed from. They were traditionally raised as freight dogs in far northern communities. It was very common practice to cull ANY dog that showed ANY sort of human aggression. From what I know the dogs were quite often loose in the community, frequently in the company of unnattended children. From the ACK site: [quote]Temperament The Alaskan Malamute is an affectionate, friendly dog, not a "one man" dog. He is a loyal, devoted companion, playful in invitation, but generally impressive by his dignity after maturity. [/quote] From Animal Planet's site: [quote]It is family-oriented, and as long as it is given daily exercise, it is well-mannered in the home. Without proper exercise, it can become frustrated and destructive. It is friendly and sociable toward people, but it may be aggressive toward strange dogs, pets or livestock[/quote] I also think her explanation of hereditary temperment problems was a good analogy without getting into the issue in complexity. Both articles are great and I am very impressed with the newssource and the Fruita PD. Note that not leaving a dog and child alone together was touched on, another thing that impresses me. It is very sad that that little girl lost her life.

I've done similar things but I have to be smart about it. One time I tried mixing in some dry addition and he ate the addition and left the kibble. I'm constantly impressed by him but he is a bit of a pain. :lol:

No need to apologize. Better to be safe than sorry and I joined Dogo to benefit from others experiences. I'm sorry to hear about your poor senior dog. Maybe I will just switch to mixing homemade and kibble so he will both have an incentive and find it harder to avoid eating the kibble.

He's 3 1/2. I just mixed up some of the homemade stuff and he ate it. Silly, pain in the ass, dog. I suppose it could be his teeth as the homemade is softer. We have a vet apt today anyway so I'll mention it but likely he just decided not to eat kibble anymore.

Kavik has never been much of an eater. After I got the Innova he was a bit better and on the Evo he was pretty much a regular dog in regards to eating. He started picking at his food the last week. I had to start shutting him in a room with it - Zaphod is quick. Now he hasn't eaten for two days. Otherwise he is perfectly fine. The only changes were: One day this week I made homemade for both of their meals because I was out of dog food - this was after he was getting picky. The weather is nicer. I got the giggley treat ball. Any thoughts?

Gigi - I feed the eggshells to balance the cooked/raw meet I add to their diet. If I prepare a large portion of food for them I usually smash the egg shell into small bits and add it or if I feel like it grind them in my mortar. The dogs accept them either way. If I am just giving the boys an egg a usually take it and toss it into their bowl, it cracks, they eat it all. I usually keep all my eggshells from cooking and baking, rinse them out and keep them for later use.

Yeah Courtnek is probably best at explaining it. It also includes things like going through the door first, not letting them on the bed or couch unless invited and in general reinforcing pack order. It's not mean or angry - just very firm.

You could take your dog's measurments and go to a large fabric store and talk to someone there. Lots of the ladies who work there will stitch stuff up for a fee.

There are a lot of differing opinions on raw and barf etc. If it worries you - don't feed chicken bones in future. You can grind them up yourself or get bonemeal if you are worried about calcium/phos./protien balance in your home prepared dog meals. I feed mine a lightly cooked home prepared diet without bones for one meal/day and EVO for the other. I use eggshells and a vet supplement rather than raw bones. However, I will let them chew away at raw meaty beef shank bones until they have the marrow removed and then I take them away - Kavik has a small chip in his tooth from working a shank bone too enthusiastically and another bigger chip from trying to play with rocks. :roll:

If it turns out he nipped because he didn't want the walk to end, as oppossed to a thyroid problem or some vet issue, I would definately go with a strict NILIF thing. If you can get to a behaviourist great but definately NILIF.

I have the same problem with my brother especially when he wants Kavik to move - he just shoves him. He will also play with, pet and scratch Kavik sometimes when he approaches him and other times he will shove him away - Kavik knows a command for not right now or go away or whatever - "get lost." I know not the sweetest sounding command but with so many people around Kavik learned that one all on his own. Generally now I can use it (in a neutral tone) and he will go do his own thing for a bit and try again later. He says he's a dog and he is "lower on the totem pole" so he aught to move - which I don't object to but: - Kavik has a wide range of commands he responds to including "move it", "back up", "down", "off-down", "out of bounds" for any area he's not allowed in - he is pretty good an surmising the implied boundary of "out of bounds" but he sometimes need reinforcement, "kitchen" for when you want him right out of the way, "that way" if you point he will often but not always go the right way but he still knows to move. - Brother is a large, imposing man, who can be quite gruff - Kavik, who is a worrier and a sweet little softy isn't responding well to him in the first place and the shoving isn't helping. - Sometimes Kavik is asleep or not paying attention when Brother starts shoving. It startles him or something and he will growl or huff - this results in Brother feeling he should reinforce pack order in his own demented version of NILIF (that doesn't involve him using commands) - cycle repeats.

Nice posts HF and CE. I generally disagree with debarking but there are some circumstances were it might be appropriate so I can't say flat out that NO one should debark their dog EVER. As for rehoming a dog before debarking - I suppose it would depend on the dog. Everytime rehoming is considered I like to look at it this way: "Would I prefer to suffer with X and stay with my family or be free of X and leave everyone I knew behind." Some dogs might cope well, some dogs are best off with their famalies, depends on the situation.

Thanks DL. I had originally thought thay maybe people weren't understanding what we were getting at because we used "lingo" even though it seemed fairly straightforward to me. I thought maybe they were misunderstanding our concerns. You could be right though, there are a lot of people out there who don't want to hear it - they just want to pump out a litter and make a buck. :( Oh well, I'll try again with the next one. (I'm not even going to address the mix-bred thing - I figure one step at a time - if we can get them to do health certs, not breed for a buck, take proper care of their animals, ensure good homes and breed for a purpose than that will be enough.)

I have that treat ball as well JM. I think the orange ones that makes no noise will last longer than the giggley ones (I got mine at superpets or petvalue) but I had to get a second one so I thought I'd try something different. I've gone through 2 of the orange treat balls as eventually one of the boys decides that he can get more treats faster if he rips the ball apart. :roll: I like having the two because now the boys can each have their own - less squabling.

I bought one of those treat balls, the ones that dispense treats as the dog rolls it about. This one also makes noises kinda link a broken slide whistle/giggle noise. They adore it - the noise drives Kavik wild. Also it gets Kavik to eat, he periodically goes into I don't want to eat mode.

Download - Media Player Classic Quicktime Alternative - search for that phrase exactly. It's a better program and won't "take over" your computer or get snotty with you and it should play an MOV.

Well the last dog I had to worm was only on worming meds for 2 weeks - I THINK. So I would presume that everything should be fine and all the deceased worms should have been passed by then. Just be careful to quickly bag/remove any feces while your dog is on the meds to prevent the minimal risk of reinfection. You could call the vet to confirm but I would think you'll be fine.

How long before you leave? Have you started the worming meds yet?

Tums huh? They come in flavours, you could add differnet flavours to the meal that way. :lol:

3! I have enough trouble with my 2. Good for you and them. :D

Natural diets can be fun. I still cook more for my dogs than for me. :lol: I just do it for general health though, not for a purpose so unfortunately I don't know of any recipes for UTI. I would suspect you have to start with knowing whether Sassy's problem is due to low or high acidity. TDG might know more, you could pm her.

Just a thought - wouldn't it be nearly impossible to get a nation wide ban on pits in the States due to the political/legal/jurisdiction situation there?

:lol: Stoopit dogs can be the best dogs, they don't overanalyze simple commands. BTW he looks like a whole other dog in his long coat. I normally like the shorter cuts much better but he's such a looker that both work for him.